US diplomats met with North Korean officials in Beijing on Wednesday to finalise a food aid deal, part of an agreement to end Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

The United States has not shipped nutritional aid to North Korea for three years.

Washington’s special envoy Robert King said the talks were focused on getting food to those people who need it most.

“We are looking at the program to help a million or more residents of the DPRK, primarily focused on young children, on women, or those who are pregnant and nursing, or the elderly and others who are particularly disadvantaged,” King said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inherited power when his father Kim Jong-il died in December.

Last week, he agreed to halt nuclear and long-range missile testing and to stop enriching uranium.

Pyongyang also said UN inspectors would be allowed back into the country.

Six party disarmament talks that included the US and China broke down in 2009.